Rejecting Trump, America elects its oldest president ever and its first Black, South Asian and female vice president. Joe Biden has won the presidency, toppling Donald Trump after four years of upheaval in the White House. Donald Trump becomes the first one-term president in more than 25 years. He is fighting the outcome in court.
But the close results in many key states — coupled with a lackluster performance by down-ballot Democrats — will leave the Democratic and Republican parties facing an identity crisis unlike any in recent history.
The call for Biden by The Associated Press came as Trump and his campaign disputed the results and vowed a legal battle to challenge them.
Biden, the former vice president, triumphed as a normalizing force. He succeeded in defining the race as a referendum on Trump, whose chaotic government — often by tweet — tested the patience of a weary electorate.
Trump suffered from persistently low public approval ratings and was plagued by a pandemic that has killed more than 230,000 Americans. The coronavirus was spiking across the country amid early voting and on Election Day.
